My Name Is Earl: "Jump For Joy" Review

Earl and the crew get a little help from Burt Reynolds.

After last week's disappointing season premiere, we were treated with a quality episode that kept us laughing. Although it won't be remembered as one of the funniest episodes of the show, "Jump for Joy" certainly will be remembered as the episode that elevated Catalina into true main character status. Even though Catalina has been a main member of the Earl clique, her dancing and realization of her place within Earl's grand plan made this episode all worthwhile. Plus it didn't hurt at all that Burt Reynolds guest starred as a sleazy used car dealer/rib joint manager/strip club owner.

The main premise of "Jump for Joy" was that Joy was being incarcerated after last week's theft and assault charges, and needed a million dollars for bail. Like always Earl is left with to help Joy, and the only way he can make the money is by getting Catalina to go back to dancing (or jumping) at the local strip club. Although the set-up for the episode wasn't really all that funny, once we first saw Chubby the owner of the strip club - played perfectly by Burt Reynolds - the episode picked up, and quick. The comedy that came from Chubby interacting with Earl and Randy combined with Catalina speaking to Joy at the prison made for some hilariously un-PC TV.

The Cast of My Name is Earl.

One of the best parts about the show is that there are amazing actors to back up the hilariously dimwitted comedy. One person stands out above the rest in that aspect however, and that is Jaime Pressly. Pressly owns the character of Joy, and delivers the lines so well that you sometimes forget how bad the things she's saying are. For instance in this episode it is made reference of the fact that she called Girl Scouts "flat-chested pigmy sluts." This line is so horrible, yet you die of laughter thinking about this foul mouthed unapologetic pain in the butt saying that to children. Although this line isn't said by Pressly, the unapologetic manner of dismal to this statement shows that this is just a normal thing to say in her world. On top of that, the humorous delivery of some of the dumber lines is handled so well by Jaime that she should be commended. When she mentions that she is made in America, not maid in America, she does this dumb little laugh, which helps sell the line for the character - this type of acting can sell even the most absurd dialogue.

All in all this wasn't the best episode, but it sure was enough to show us that the second season will be as good as the first. The only problem that I have so far is that Randy has actually been dumb-ed down even further and given less of a role. Not that Randy wasn't stupid in the first season, but his one-track mind in this episode took away from some of the humor that his character could provide. At least there was some character progression away from Randy, as both Earl and Catalina became stronger in their roles. Earl has started to get stressed out by all his responsibility, and even though he is nowhere close to giving up his meaning in life (the list), "Jump for Joy" has shown that he is definitely going to need help from his friends. And the friend to step up and help him in this episode was Catalina - by dancing at the club she helped Earl by helping Joy for him. We were nervous when Catalina didn't show up last week, but it seems like they were just waiting for a good time to reintroduce her&#Array; and we appreciate that.